By JOSH FARLEY
Staff Writer
With under 30 seconds to go in the fourth quarter, the Kingston
Cavaliers drove down the field and stunned the Poulsbo Panther defense with a high-arching pass — a surprise given Kingston’s conservative offense — that led to the score that won the game.
Sound familiar?
That was last year’s battle between North-end’s junior high school football
teams. Not that what happened during this year’s game was all that
different.
Another year — another edge-of-your-seat, photo-finish to North Kitsap’s
finest rivalry.
Cavs’ coach Tony Chisholm called his team’s 36-30 win “Tuesday Night
Lights,” likening it to the recent box-office prep football hit. Poulsbo
teacher and P.A. announcer at the game Marshall Miranda called the game,
“The annual Kingston-Poulsbo classic.”
It was easily both.
Since Kingston Junior High School was built in 1990 thereby splitting North
Kitsap’s junior high school population in half, the Poulsbo-Kingston game
has become both teams’ most anticipated of the season. And it isn’t just
football — most of the other junior high sports at the schools enjoy a
rivalry against their North Kitsap counterparts like no other as well.
The players (and many times coaches and parents, too) are often friends on
the sidelines. Then, they’re each others’ arch-nemeses on the field. And
then — they all go to high school together, where they unite to take on
other high schools. As Coach Chisholm said a year ago: “I hope the fans
realize they were seeing the future of North Kitsap football, and that’s
what this is all about. (Poulsbo) blue and (Kingston) red make (North
Kitsap) purple.”
“These teams are going to become the high school team,” added Panthers’
coach David Denton. “What (Kingston) got tonight was bragging rights.”
For many of the players, the experience is also the first time they’ve
played under the lights, guests at the Vikings’ home field.
“Here, under the big lights at this stadium,” said Kingston’s Anthony
Lindfors, “Wow, it’s a rush.”
Over the years, the games have seen blow-outs on both sides, but the vast
majority have been close affairs and an unusually high number of
come-from-behind wins for either Panther or Cavalier teams.
This year added to the already-lengthy list.
Poulsbo looked to make easy work of the Cavs in the first half, using a
passing game that the Kingston defensive backs couldn’t seem to keep up
with. But Kingston stayed in the game behind tireless efforts of its
back-field, namely James and Andy Smith.
Kingston’s altered its second half defense and held Poulsbo to no passing
touchdowns in the second half. The Cavalier backs, using solid blocking from
its offensive line, kept charging. And eventually, they found a hole in what
was estimated to be at least 30 carries for James Smith alone.
Tack on the late-game heroics of Kingston’s Bernie Anderson and James
Clearman, who connected for a perfect strike with three seconds to go in the
game — and there’s a finish to one heck of a ball-game.
If anything from the two team’s 14-year history playing each other can be
learned from — including this year’s newly-crowned classic — one should
expect the next 14 will be every bit as spectacular.
Cavaliers engineer another comeback
– Kingston claws
way back into
classic versus
arch-rival PJH.
By JOSH FARLEY
Staff Writer
POULSBO – The undefeated Poulsbo Panthers football team came into its game
with Kingston poised to get revenge on the Cavs, who beat them in last
year’s North-end junior high school battle.
But KJH coach Tony Chisholm and his team had very different plans.
Down by as many as 16 points Tuesday night, the Cavaliers stormed back,
scoring the winning touchdown with three seconds to go in the game to knock
off the unbeaten Panthers, 36-30 at NK Stadium.
“These kids had so much heart,” said Chisholm of his players. “They played
all four quarters of football.”
Kingston’s Smiths — James and Andy — scored four touchdowns combined in the
game utilizing Kingston’s effective ground game. But the Cavs too showed
their ability to pass, with its final two touchdowns coming from the arm of
quarterback Bernie Anderson.
“They just had good physical play,” said PJH coach David Denton. “And lots
of hard running.”
For the run-and-gun Panthers, Jordan Tucker compiled 150 yards of passing
offense on touchdown plays alone and Jamaal Smith picked up a rushing
touchdown.
“Tucker made some great athletic plays,” Chisholm said. “Poulsbo is just a
great football team. We just took advantage of opportunities — that’s the
game of football.”
Kingston won the ball-game in the most dramatic fashion, putting together a
25 second scoring drive in the final minute of play while utilizing a few
fatal mistakes made by Poulsbo.
With the game tied at 30 apiece and two minutes left in regulation, Poulsbo
drove down field, only to be held by a sack of Poulsbo quarterback Tucker —
the only one of the game, by the Cavs’ James Smith — that forced a fourth
and 18 play.
“Kingston changed their defense and it shook us up,” Tucker said after the
game. “They adapted well and they just played really well.”
Rather than punting the ball away with 0:32 seconds to go, Poulsbo went for
the win, with Tucker looking for a deep pass down field, but one that was
broken up by Kingston’s Michael Ferrell.
Kingston had only 26 seconds to go on the Panther 46 yard-line. But two
plays later, the Cavs’ would be the victors of the annual battle.
Kingston quarterback Bernie Anderson passed the ball to James Smith, who
picked up about 10 yards. However, a late-hit on Anderson gave Poulsbo a
crucial roughing penalty that put the Cavs on the Panther 20 with eight
seconds left.
The next play, Kingston wideout Jack Clearman moved left on the field,
charged for the end-zone, and Anderson floated up a spot-on pass to his
receiver.
Game over.
“Bernie (Anderson) was steady and never got frazzled,” Chisholm said. “He
played the whole game.”
Kingston’s players described in one word what they thought it took to
prevail against their Poulsbo counterparts: “Heart.”
“The heart,” said the Cavs’ Matthew Brundage. “Just the will to win the
game.”
“We just had pride,” added James Smith. “We wanted this game so bad and
everyone stepped it up.”
Poulsbo had thundered out to a 16-point lead midway through the second
quarter. The Panthers took to the air for its first two strikes, with PJH
quarterback Jordan Tucker finding receivers Jordan Coover and Parker Thomas
for two touchdowns to take a 16-0 lead. Kingston’s first opportunity to
score was a pass into the end-zone by quarterback Bernie Anderson, but one
that was intercepted by the Panthers’ Coover.
But Kingston’s two Smiths got going on the ground, plowing the PJH defense
back until James Smith broke through for a seven yard score.
Again, Poulsbo’s air game produced a 60 yard touchdown from Tucker to Greg
Ottele to go up 24-8. But before the first half was over, another ground
attack by the Smiths and also a few passes to wideout Clearman and Kingston
went into the half down only 10 points on a 14 yard rushing TD by Andy
Smith.
Chisholm revamped the Kingston defense in the second half, one that seemed
to stifle Poulsbo’s pass offense. The Cavs stuck to their rough-and-ready
running game, one that resulted in a James Smith rushing score to bring KJH
with two points of their Panther rivals in the third.
Poulsbo then went to its own ground game and its own “Smith” — Jamaal — who,
between he and Ottele, put together a scoring drive. But Ottele failed on
the extra point and the Cavs were within a touchdown of tying.
Poulsbo, thwarted by a tough Kingston defense and an illegal motion penalty,
turned the ball over on downs to give the Cavs a chance to tie. And they
would — this time with Kingston mixing the run and the pass effectively, on
a drive that ended with an Anderson to Andy Smith four yard score and one
that burned almost five minutes off the clock.
Tie game.
After the sack and penalty, Poulsbo turned over the ball once more to a
Kingston team that drove 49 yards in 25 seconds for a score to win the game.
Poulsbo (5-1) will finish its season at 3 p.m. Nov. 3 at home against
Bremerton while the Cavs (5-1) will host Oakland Bay at 3 p.m. Nov. 3 in its
last game as well.
-Agate-
1 2 3 4
Final
Kingston 0 14 8 14 — 36
Poulsbo 8 16 0 6 — 30
First quarter
PJH — Thomas 15 pass from Tucker (Ottele kick), 3:52
Second quarter
PJH — Coover 75 pass from Tucker (Ottele kick), 8:50
KJH — James Smith 7 run (James Smith kick), 3:51
PJH — Ottele 60 pass from Tucker (Ottele kick), 3:34
KJH — Andy Smith 14 run (kick blocked), 0:25
Third quarter
KJH — James Smith 11 run (James Smith kick), 4:24
Fourth quarter
PJH — Jamaal Smith 6 run (kick failed), 7:08
KJH — Andy Smith 4 pass from Anderson (James Smith kick), 2:35
KJH — Clearman 20 pass from Anderson (pass failed), 0:03
